I like living. I've sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.
- Agatha Christie

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Hari Raya 2011

Nothing much happened this year with the few Malaysian families left who also had to work on the morning of Hari Raya, this supposedly festive day/holiday was nothing but a great excuse to either sleep or become a couch potato.

Our building was awfully quiet unlike back home in Sg Tua where the morning of Raya would leave you breathless. There would be that constant rushing for the bathroom, waiting for your turn to get into it especially if we were home because I would be hogging it with my little terrors who would be taking their turns in their own sweet time. Then, the preparation for the men to go for the prayers while we women are busy in the kitchen preparing the food to give to our neighbors, getting ready for the forgiveness session, visiting whoever etc etc etc...and not to forget, the blaring music from our neighbor's house..it was all too festive compared to what we had here in Ruwais.

Hmm..for us ..it was cereal! Plain old Cheerios with full fat milk..Then, it was time for Skype in our day clothes. That was the only highlight of that day, being able to see my parents and siblings. Good thing for technology!

Things took to a different turn by noon as I had to enslave myself in the kitchen for the makan-makan session at our humble abode that night. Luckily, I have the best husband in the world who volunteered to become my kitchen assistant..I mean he asked willingly without me asking for help..Gosh, I am so blessed to have him. ( Yeah, I know everyone else's husband is like that too but hey, can't a girl be happy for hers) If it weren't for him, I would have been lost in the piles and piles and piles of unwashed pots and pans.

By dinner time, the spirit of Raya finally percolated when we had donned our Raya clothes and had this massive amount of food all neatly laid out on the table. And while waiting for the guests to arrive, that was when we had our minta maaf session. If my parents knew, they would go ballistics for us to go against the tradition. Hahahah....call it the modern style. By midnight, as everyone had left, that was when the exhaustion came seeping through. At last, Raya had made its way to our new home!